nyxbookfandomcom-20200214-history
Clockworks
'Synopsis:' The Clockwork are the constructed children of parents who would otherwise be barren. Through the artful working of threads and dreaming the Dolls shape bodies to be filled by life which, though artificial, is no less real. Magick moves through glass eyes, steel limbs, and bodies of borrowed blood like breath, like a heartbeat of sentience and emotion, as a soul. In recent years the factories and assembly lines of Sable have taken over the brunt of clockwork creation, with only their gleaming Aspects - prosthetic souls - left to be shaped by Dolls. Though the Dolls, in general, cherish their children, the outside world rarely understands the full sentience found in a clockwork heart. Most other races regard the clockwork as automatons purposed to serve. Most clockwork choose to remain within the only world ever known to them, but as of late the ruling force of Sable has begun to order clockwork trickled out through the city's open gates in shipments, as things, to be bartered off in foreign realms. 'Biology:' 'Souls:' The Clockwork are not born into this world naturally; they are not bound to the law and order of the gods who dictate souls to newborn vessels. It is only the first of their make, the Breathers, who hold in their chests the frightened beat of a butterfly soul. The Clockwork are given Aspects, fabrications balanced between life and soul, nature and automaton creation. The specifics of the process are zealously guarded by the ruler of Quarter City, but what is known is what can be observed. Within the chest of each Tinker, Toy, and Ticker there is a hollow place where the heart ought to beat. It is here that a glass vial, capped with a cog, is fitted. What is held within is something beyond definition. It is a thing made, from imagination and magick, a thing of endless potential and individuality. It is the essence of a life held inside a little vial. The Doll Mistress of Quarter plucks a thread from the dreaming - the infinite weave of all life and magick - to wind about the essence of an inspirational thing. It could be a flower, a feather, a stone, a coin, a kiss, a tear, a word, a song - there is no limitation to the vastness of imagining. The dreaming gives whole life to this Aspect, and between the two a conscious soul is formed. The variable component of a clockworks soul is largely responsible for their disposition, and personality in general. Due to the capricious moods of the Doll Mistress, some aspects are bright and wondrous, where as others are pulled from nightmares. 'Appearance:' 1st Edition - The Breathers * Have traditional, 'real', souls * Made of recycled human/elven flesh * Have a full range of facial expression * Heights range between 5'0" - 6'0" * Weights are light because of their hollowed out insides * Zipped up chests with music boxes inside * Eye Colors include Brown; Green; Blue; Black; Red; Yellow * Hair colors include Blonde; Brunette; Red; Black; White; Gray With clever fingers and dreaming thread the Dolls gave life to their first children from the patchwork bits of elves and man. From flesh they worked the body, a macabre quilt of different features, as charming as it was unsettling. There was little refinement in the beginning, and where now they might have worried more over aesthetics the Dolls saw only function in their craft. Even so the scraps were few and far between and even now it is strange to find one of these first children, the Breathers as they have come to be called, fitted with even a whole limb or a matched pair of eyes from any single source. More common to find such features missing completely, lost or forgotten, discarded in the haste of creation or through the long wear of time. A patchwork of patches added through repair to the jigsaw of recycled parts and pieces. Despite the frightful materials of their make they are a good natured sort in general, as is evident by the wide stretch of their grins stitched in dimples to their cheeks. Of all the clockwork, their fleshy faces make Breathers most capable of expression. They are able to blink, frown, grin, scowl, and laugh in earnest while their later brethren, more clockwork than organic, may only vaguely imitate. Though there is no uniformity in a Breather's make, besides their bipedal humanoid shape, there is no mistaking one of their kind. Raised stitches like gleaming silver scars intersect across their faces and bodies stretched taunt over a skeleton of wired organics. Bones and muscle are used to support their ungainly frame though only a ragged pair of lungs and a clockwork heart hang suspended in their zipped up chests - where their music boxes are housed. The vertical zipper from navel to clavicle is standard, but various buttons and bows stitched into flesh as ornament are also common. Like most creatures of flesh, breathers eventually decay. The magick invested in their creation staves off this process for a natural human lifespan, after which a wide-spread graying begins to mar their flesh. This process may also occur should a breather refrain from feeding - refreshing the blood within its innards - for more than a few months. 2nd Edition - The Tinkers 3rd Edition - The Toys 4th Edition - The Tickers * Have Aspect souls * Have a clockwork key in their back * Female heights are 5'4"/ 5'6"/ 5'8" * Male heights are 5'7"/ 5'9"/ 5'11" * Made of Plastic; Porcelain; Steel; Glass; Wood * Weights should be relative to the material they're made of * Model number on their wrist/bicep/shoulder/neck/lip/tongue * Have limited facial expression - blinking and moving lips * Eye Colors are not limited, and may be any color * Hair colors are not limited, and may be any color Though fashioned in factories from metal and gears the Tickers are the most humanoid in their appearance and proportion of all the clockwork. The tucked away exceptions of note to this craftsmanship are a hollow cavity on the left side of their breast (in which an Aspect capsule is fitted) and the winding clockwork key nestled flat into the middle of their backs. Their bodies - constructed commonly of Plastic, Porcelain, Wood, Steel, or even Glass - are long-limbed and willowy. As realistic as they might seem not even the Tickers are free of the limits of their creation. There was a time when this was not so, when each body was crafted by hand, unique in every way - But now, with factories and assembly lines, the clockwork are uniform almost to a fault in their proportions. Tickers have only a very limited variance in their height with the female models measuring 5'4", 5'6", and 5'8", and male models of 5'7", 5'9", or 5'11". It is common for Tickers to be ball-jointed, but more often than not they feature thin, seamless plates over their joints to tuck away their machination. In either case, all manufactured Tickers are hand-painted in flesh tones with careful attention paid to the frozen expression of their faces. The shape of a Ticker’s cranium is constructed around a joint structure of springs and gears to allow for the subtle, human, movements of lips and the closing of eyes. Their mouths are hollowed out with attention payed to the forming of lips and a tongue. A fine brush is used to detail a softness to lips in contrast to the materials of their make. The female models often include an additional glaze of color here to help complete the illusion of organic life. Then the slope of cheek bones and a humanoid nose are shaped, as are hollow sockets for glass eyes to be fitted into. A lid and lashline are stretched over top of these curiously expressive eyes while silken threads, alive with Doll magick, are pulled through the scalp to gleam and grow as hair. The eye color and hair color or Tickers are without restrictions or limitations save the imagination of their creators. When the process is complete each Ticker is labeled with a production number on either their wrist, bicep, the back of the neck, the back of the shoulder, the inside of the lip, or the tongue. 'Abilities:' 1st Edition - The Breathers For the purpose of feeding, Breathers may lure non-humanoid creatures of average animal intelligence to them with sound. A Breather's Lullaby is hypnotic, and is capable of slightly and subtly influencing the moods of organic life. This unique ability is facilitated by a revolving cylinder fitted into their hollowed out chest cavities. The purposed ridges on the cylinder 'pluck' at a steel comb to produce a melodic song. Each 'music box' holds only one song, though variety can be achieved through augmentation in Sable. (OOC, there are regulations and merit costs/storyline costs that must be paid for augmentation of a Breathers music box. The ability 'Lulaby' is a non-combat technique that is not to be used on player characters without their permission to play out the desired effect.) 2nd Edition - The Tinkers A Tinkers unique ability is in their versatility. Suits and Shapers are both crafted with hollow compartments in their forearms, thighs, back, and chest which are referred to collectively as a Tinker's Faculties. These compartments are outfitted with a variety of weaponry (for Suits) or tools (for Shapers), though a combination of both is most common. These items may be extracted for use at will, but require the assistance of a specialist in Sable to be augmented/changed. (OOC, each compartment may house only one 'weapon' which may not exceed the dimensions of the compartment itself, though any combination of non-combat-relevant items following the size/space rule may be stored. These items need to be specified on your character creation sheet prior to approval, and may not be altered after such without paying the merit/storyline cost of augmentation.) 3rd Edition - The Toys 'Diet:' 1st Edition - The Breathers 2nd Edition - The Tinkers 3rd Edition - The Toys 4th Edition - The Tickers (What do they eat? How do they get it? Be creative. Not everyone should be able to eat salad, and it would be most interesting if some can only eat meat.) 'Life Cycle:' 1st Edition - The Breathers 2nd Edition - The Tinkers Without flesh to decay, the most high-functioning of automatons are rendered passively immortal. A Tinker's lifespan is limitless so long as proper maintenance is conducted. This includes the oiling of gears and joints as well as upkeep on the armored exterior of the tinker. The precision needed to replace warn out gears and cogs is of such a high skill level that few, besides other Tinkers and their Doll creators, are capable of the operation. Of course, this passive immortality does not grant them any special immunity to the physical traumas and circumstances - such as dismemberment - which would render most beings nonfunctional. Should a Tinkers exterior be damaged or neglected beyond repair, a specialist may transfer their Aspect Capsule into a new automaton body. 3rd Edition - The Toys Even with doll magick hand-stitched into every fiber of their being, toys are creatures destined to die. The organic components that make up roughly half of a toys anatomical structure has the same lifespan as a human being, roughly 70 years. However, unlike their human counterparts, toys never exhibit physical signs of aging. The care invested in each little body's creation keeps them ever youthful right up to the day that their awareness returns to the dreaming. Due to their partially organic state, Toys may not undergo the process of having their Aspect Capsule transferred into an alternative automaton body. 4th Edition - The Tickers Without flesh to decay, the most high-functioning of automatons are rendered passively immortal. A Ticker's lifespan is limitless so long as the clockwork key imbedded in their back is rewound yearly, though this does not grant them any special immunity to the physical traumas and circumstances - such as dismemberment - which would render most beings nonfunctional. A Ticker that is not rewound would fall dormant, a state similar to a coma, until the proper maintenance (rewinding, perhaps oiling the inner workings and joints) is done. Should a Tickers exterior be damaged or neglected beyond repair, a specialist may transfer their Aspect Capsule into a new automaton body. 'Behavioural Traits:' 1st Edition - The Breathers 2nd Edition - The Tinkers 3rd Edition - The Toys 4th Edition - The Tickers (Please please please, don’t make me read humans with different powers and ears. I want to read entirely new races. I want the demons to be savage and wild. I want the efferi to be very instinct based, to feel raw fear like a cat does when there is a bigger predator around. I want gorgons to actually think of eating flesh no matter how civilized they are. I want you to give these creatures a different psychology.) 'Society' (We are not going to be getting very specific on governments and nations on this template for the main porpoise is the race. But, some questions need to be answered because social creatures do not exist in a void.) 'Habitat & Architecture:' (Where do they leave? How is the environment? Nature? Weather? How are their buildings?) 'Industry:' (This is basically economics. It is what sustains the society. Humans have corporations and mass production while Efferii hunt in the wild for meat. How does your society sustain itself?) 'Social Structure:' (Politics. How is power divided? How are they ruled?) 'Family Life:' (If everyone writes here about Mom, Dad, and the children I am going to slit my wrists. It’s a fantasy world. Be creative. Sure humans will have that, but I hope also to see some diversity. I want to see communal love. I want to see a race that raises its newborns together, meaning, every adult serves as parent and there are no private households; a race whose newborns get raised by other younglings who are a bit older, etc. I don’t know. I just don’t want to see the typical family structure for everyone. Be creative! ) 'Education:' (What do they learn? Who teaches them? Is it arts? Books? Is it hunting? Fishing? This can sometimes be closely related to the blank above.) 'Culture & Arts:' (Every civilization has art and culture, it is the admiration of beauty, they study of it, the expression of it. It can be music, literature, philosophy, even sports. Think of humanities!) 'Language:' What language do they speak? What are the origins? How are names typically structured? With which sounds? Do they repeat “ian” a lot in the end of the male names? Do they have family names? Are they named because of their personality, their appearance, or their skills? 'Religion:' (Don’t elaborate much here on deities. Try to think of values instead, or perhaps rituals if there are any. It’s fine to be atheist, but what we are aiming here for is spirituality.) 'Immigration & Emigration:' (How do they treat foreigners? Do they even accept them? Do they eat them? Are there members of this race outside its main society? For example, Moon Elves in a big human metropolises? How do they behave in those areas? Does this race stick together even when in entirely different societies? How are they different from the ones who live still in the motherland? Remember that while some foreign races may be new to a place, there will be others who have spent generations outside their motherland and are practically fully assimilated to a new culture.) 'History' (This space is no mandatory, as I might edit a lot of what you write. Whatever you write here will be appreciated, from ideas to a full history. Just don’t get too attached to it.) Category:Races